Silver Line: 10 years of history, changes

The Silver Line recently turned 10 years old. Its fleet isn’t made up of trains like the three other MBTA lines. It consists of tunnel seeking, satellite communicating, traffic light changing, kiosk talking, two-section 60-foot-long vehicles powered by natural gas, electricity, and a diesel generator.

It's not the line that planners envisioned decades ago due to unforseen budgetary constraints. But it can only grow since it connects some of the oldest neighborhoods in Boston, like Roxbury, to some of its most burgeoning areas, like the Waterfront. Take a look at its history and recent developments.
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The Boston Globe

The line is made up of two seperate sections. The original line that began in 2002 runs from Dudley Square in Roxbury to South Station mostly through Washington Street.

The hybrid buses run along the path that used to hold the Elevated tracks of the Orange Line until demolition in 1987. Residents missed their public transportation option and some replacement ideas that never panned out included a light rail or underground train.
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Justine Hunt/Globe Staff

Communicating with satellites, the Silver Line vehicles change traffic lights to green in their favor at the major intersections along Washington Street and display arrival times to anxious passengers at kiosks along their trip to Chinatown.
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Janet Knott/Globe Staff

The first section of the Silver Line meets the second section at a transfer point in South Station.

The second section, which opened in 2004, runs from South Station into South Boston and to Logan Airport in East Boston. The line runs through a dedicated bus tunnel and roads separated from normal traffic.
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The Boston Glob

The Silver Line tunnel extending out of South Station was constructed as part of Boston's Big Dig project.

Several engineering feats were accomplished in its construction, like building tunnel sections in a dry dock and floating them into place.

Pictured: MBTA officials walked through the last hundred yards of tunnel approaching the World Trade Center terminal in 2002.
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Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff

MBTA officials originally intended to connect both sections of the Silver Line with a tunnel but the plan would have cost $1.5 billion.

Government officails were concerned with budget overruns and limited available funds. Plans to complete the tunnel were abandoned in favor of a path that already existed.
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Bill Greene / Globe Staff

Boston is the first major city to provide a free airport transfer, and the rides are helping the city provide a friendlier face to visitors this summer. The program was intended to promote public transportation and cut down on tourist confusion and boarding times. Since then, officials announced they would extend the free fares through September.
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Janet Knott/Globe Staff

Massport currently keeps about three-quarters of airport Silver Line fares under an agreement in which it paid for the buses, while the T paid to construct the tunnels.
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John Bohn / Globe Staff

In 2011, Logan handled nearly 29 million passengers and is on pace to eclipse that in 2012, setting another record. But parking is constrained by Logan’s limited footprint and by federal and state environmental laws that cap the number of airport parking spaces in East Boston.

Massport’s plan to attract as many as 37.5 million travelers annually hinges on its ability to promote public transportation and other alternatives to driving.
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The Boston Globe

One of the major criticisms of the service is that, especially on the Roxbury section, the Silver Line behaves just like a city bus — with all the traffic delays and slow boarding that entails.

One strategy would be to make inbound trips from the airport free for good. Another approach would be for Massport to build enclosed boarding areas with turnstiles so passengers could pay before the bus arrives, like the existing Silver Line station at the World Trade Center stop.
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The Boston Globe

In April, the MBTA installed LED signs at all Logan Airport terminals to let travelers know when the next Silver Line bus will arrive.
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Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff

The stations seem little used now — though the T reports that ridership is about 7,000 on weekdays — yet the area around the World Trade Center is already built up, and construction cranes are everywhere in evidence around Silver Line Way.

This boom will eventually spread to the courthouse area, around the Fan Pier.

Development of this section of the Silver Line represents a public commitment to extend downtown development to the waterfront.
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David L. Ryan/Globe Staffl

Creation of the Silver Line, a 20-year process, was part of a trend in transportation planning that began with former governor Frank Sargent's decision in 1971 not to build the Southwest Expressway and the Inner Belt, which would have whisked cars around downtown Boston but sliced through neighborhoods.

Pictured: A construction worker fixed up the entrance to the Silver Line at South Station in 2005.
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Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff

Instead, the state began to emphasize projects that encouraged people to travel into downtown.

The MBTA built the Red Line extension to Alewife; relocated the Orange Line through the land cleared for the Southwest Expressway; improved commuter rail service and extended it to Worcester, Newburyport, and the South Shore; and built the Silver Line to serve the waterfront and the Roxbury-South End corridor where the Orange Line once ran.
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David L. Ryan / Globe Staff

In the 1980s the initial phase of this investment was rewarded with an explosion of growth in downtown Boston.

Financial companies and law firms boomed, and universities that were once locally focused attracted a national student body. Hospitals thrived and stayed anchored in Boston.

Lately, growth has focucsed by the Waterfront in South Boston and Silver Line stations were constructed anticipating that development.
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David L Ryan / Globe Staff

The Silver Line's four branches are known as SL1, SL2, SL4, and SL5.

Officials are considering a study on extending the Silver Line to Chelsea, which would be the SL6 route.
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